Pride

I felt like I needed to post this on the thread, it shows the mind set of the British Army, not to mention one of the best regiments in the World.

Intro:
Colonel Tim Collins gave the battlegroup of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish the pep talk as the US deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq or
face action ticked away.

"We go to liberate not to conquer. We will not fly our flags in their country," he said.

"We are entering Iraq to free a people and the only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Show respect for them.

"There are some who are alive at this moment who will not be alive shortly. Those who do not wish to go on that journey, we will not send.

"As for the others I expect you to rock their world. Wipe them out if that is what they choose. But if you are ferocious in battle remember to be
magnanimous in victory.

"Iraq is steeped in history. It is the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood and the birthplace of Abraham. Tread lightly there.

"You will see things that no man could pay to see and you will have to go a long way to find a more decent, generous and upright people than the
Iraqis.

"You will be embarrassed by their hospitality even though they have nothing.

"Don't treat them as refugees for they are in their own country. Their children will be poor, in years to come they will know that the light of
liberation in their lives was brought by you.

"If there are casualties of war then remember that when they woke up and got dressed in the morning they did not plan to die this day.

"Allow them dignity in death. Bury them properly and mark their graves."

To his 800 men - an arm of the 16 Air Assault Brigade - he said: "It is my foremost intention to bring every single one of you out alive but there
may be people among us who will not see the end of this campaign.

"We will put them in their sleeping bags and send them back. There will be no time for sorrow.

"The enemy should be in no doubt that we are his nemesis and that we are bringing about his rightful destruction.

"There are many regional commanders who have stains on their souls and they are stoking the fires of hell for Saddam.

"He and his forces will be destroyed by this coalition for what they have done. As they die they will know their deeds have brought them to this
place. Show them no pity."

He said: "It is a big step to take another human life. It is not to be done lightly.

"I know of men who have taken life needlessly in other conflicts, I can assure you they live with the mark of Cain upon them.

"If someone surrenders to you then remember they have that right in international law and ensure that one day they go home to their family.

"The ones who wish to fight, well, we aim to please."

He warned the troops not to get carried away in the heat of battle.

"If you harm the regiment or its history by over enthusiasm in killing or in cowardice, know it is your family who will suffer.

God doesn't want you for a sunbeam - he wants you for a soldier
Father Nick Gosnell, chaplain to 16th Air Assault Brigade

"You will be shunned unless your conduct is of the highest for your deeds will follow you down through history. We will bring shame on neither our
uniform or our nation."

Warning that the troops were very likely to face chemical or biological weapons, he said: "It is not a question of if, it's a question of when. We
know he has already devolved the decision to lower commanders, and that means he has already taken the decision himself. If we survive the first
strike we will survive the attack."

His closing words were resolute: "As for ourselves, let's bring everyone home and leave Iraq a better place for us having been there. Our business
now is north."

Very good pre-battle speech IMO. It gladly lacks the "hoorayishness" of others I heard before but still is very encouraging. The commander has to be
applauded for his rigid stance on the well-being of those that really matter in the end: the local people.

"We go to liberate not to conquer. We will not fly our flags in their country," he said.

"We are entering Iraq to free a people and the only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Show respect for them.

yeah, its too bad our militaries arent made up of more people like him. thats some real character. and for once, i dont have anything to refute. i
thought this might be a maximus thread - lifting military figures on pedastals merely because they were some real hard badasses.

A little calibration never hurt anyone(unless the Liberal media is there to blow it out of proportion), jk. Good speech though it seemed to me more of
a be careful and respectful speech than fiery pep talk.

British Troops don't need "firey" speechs to get them psyched into doing their jobs, they are professionals, the respect the leader who knows that
and reminds them of the important things, than telling them to kill all round them.

Of the British Military I've heard it said they are the best trained and worst equipped . This speaks much of the men who must move forward
under fire... and have done so at Quatre Bras, Sevastapol, Omdurman, the Somme, the Cherbourg Peninsula, Basra... and other places that the struggle
for decency may yet take them.

Its not so much the fact that it was different to the standard, lets go and get them type speeches, but it reminded the troops of a simple fact,
respect your enemy, respect the people of iraq and honour your regiment, nothing more, nothing less.

Originally posted by Wiley_Wonka
Since this is a weaponry forum, I had some questions: What's the standard equipment a UK infantryman would get? Does it differ if he's from a group
from Wales/Scotland/England/N. Ireland?

Um while the Japanese were good fighters, the hardest country that the US fought against had to be Germany bc not only did Germany give a good fight,
but it was fighting 2 sides! so just imagine the possible outcome if Germany had destroyed Russia in ww2 and could have put its full forces on the
front lines against teh allies in the west.

The best thing they had going for them was the gross stupidity and incompetence of Europe's pre-war leadership, and the fact that Stalin managed to
execute most of his competent officers before the war ever started.

There seems to be this latter-day fascination with "invincible Nazi supermen" and their "wonder weapons", but frankly, they got their behinds
kicked rather badly from '42 on, and their "wonder weapons" never actually accomplished much besides wasting huge amounts of resources. The V-1's
and V-2's were never more than an inconvenience, the fussy clockwork Panther's got eaten alive by "crude" T-34's on the harsh Russian steppes,
the mighty Bismark got a lucky shot on Hood but was helpless to defend itself against hopelessly antiquated Swordfish biplanes. The ME-262 could have
been useful, had Germany's leadeship not been so abysmally stupid in it's use (Hitler insisted it be developed as an attack aircraft, a role to
which it was totally unsuited). Not to mention the ME-262 was little more than a sitting duck until it got up to speed and altitude, and lots of
ME-262 pilots died pathetically within sight of their home airfields.

The US fought on two fronts too, and crushed both opponents rather handily.
The Germans were ultimately undone by their own colossal hubris.

Yeah, Germany's early gains were mostly because the rest of Europe was like, "Wtf mate? I never saw this coming, I thought we had whored out enough
land to secure peace!" The Germans had a lot of potential, but their insane leader really screwed them over. He wouldn't listen to anyone who knew
what they were talking about (Rommel).

Europe, while being taken by surprise, still basically knew that Hitler was about to invade for about 3 years. Also they had more tanks and troops
than Germany in France when Germany invaded. It was the experience and training of the soldiers, the Blitzkrieg tactics, airpower, and technical
advancement. To call a country that took over 3/4s of Europe basically by itself is insane. Germany was a mighty power and probably through the
over-sretching of lines, and a fantical leader -they lost.

This content community relies on user-generated content from our member contributors. The opinions of our members are not those of site ownership who maintains strict editorial agnosticism and simply provides a collaborative venue for free expression.